Last month I wrote about you can do at home or on the road. Here's another routine I love when I have limited time or space. The "Five Tibetans" are an exercise program Tibetan monks use to refresh and energize themselves. The Tibetans claim that these exercises activate and stimulate the seven key chakras that in turn stimulate all the glands of the endocrine system. It takes only six-eight minutes once you get the routine down. It's rejuvenating, starts the blood flowing, generates heat and strengthens you. There are five exercises total, and you do each one 21x. Start with fewer repetitions and build up to twenty-one. In the first movement, you spin 21x clock-wise, then reverse for 3 spins. This stimulates your vestibular system which controls balance and spatial orientation. It's amazing how those three reverse spins undo any dizziness. Click hereand refer often. It's a great website to help you remember the routine and has animated moves to show you how to do it correctly.

Everyone wants to know the most effective ab exercises to slim their waistline and have well defined abdominal muscles. Ab definition requires more than just crunches or sit-ups. You will only get there if you incorporate optimal nutrition (i.e.clean eating), high intensity strength training (brief, intense, to point of muscle failure) and cardio interval training. These are a must to burn off the extra fat so those firm abs show through!

There are many variations of effective ab exercises, and variety is the key to shaping the body. I love multi-joint, rotation, balance and body weight exercises to strengthen the core and engage all stabilizing muscles of the back and abs.

Here are my top five favorites:

Plank on Forearms

Pike/Reverse Crunch

Bicycle Twist & Hold

Crunch on Stability Ball

Captain’s Chair Knee Lift

What’s one thing you could do to add more intensity to your workouts?

What will it take to make scheduling your self-care/exercise a priority?